NRC closes out safety finding at Millstone Unit 3

Waterford — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has closed out the safety finding it issued on Oct. 21 that stemmed from a failure by Millstone Power Station owner Dominion Resources to promptly identify and correct repetitive problems with a pump that is part of nuclear reactor safety systems.

The NRC announced Thursday that the “white” finding on the turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump at Unit 3 is closed out retroactively as of July 1. A “white” finding, of low-to-moderate safety significance, is the second-lowest category of the NRC’s four-tiered color-coded labeling system for safety violations.

The announcement came after NRC inspectors visited the plant in June and evaluated Dominion’s root cause analysis and corrective actions for the problems with the pump, which occurred from May 2013 to February 2014. The inspectors concluded that overall, no significant weaknesses were found, according to Neil Sheehan, NRC spokesman. The inspectors did, however, find some minor weaknesses in the area of corrective actions, he said.

Sheehan said Millstone 3 remains under additional NRC oversight because of another security-related inspection finding.

Richard Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion, said the company had no comment.